INTA 651 National Security Policy
Dr. Kevin P. Reynolds
Texas A&M University
Prepared by:
Jason Jiménez
Cyber Space and its Security
Cyberspace, or the Internet as an interchangeable reference, is the electronic medium of computer networks and systems in which online communication and enterprise takes place. Originally, the Internet served to interconnect laboratories engaged in government research. However, since 1994, the decentralized Internet has expanded to serve millions of users and a multitude of purposes in all parts of the world. With this shift from government tool to general tool, the Internet has become a collective result of ideas, beliefs and initiatives. Many aspects of our day-to-day lives can be traced along the Internet through some form of electronic function. In addition to its wide reaching powers with regards to the spread of information, the Internet has also become the most democratic and universal form of mass media ever known, since no one entity has a monopoly over the information available, thus making control close to impossible.
Clearly, Internet usage in today’s world is no longer viewed as a nonessential luxury. Usage and content has exponentially risen to a level of unprecedented proportion that requires its own area of precautions and supervision. The distal range of context that Cyberspace commands is the basis for a host of security issues and challenges that anyone that utilizes the Internet is made aware of daily. There is a growing awareness in today’s globalized world of the imminent dangers that may befell anyone that isn’t careful of their Internet usage. Cybercrimes such as theft, fraud and identify theft, to name a few, pose as ominous threats to the security of any individual or enterprise that engages the Internet at any given time. Not only are these threats that individuals are subjected to, but also threats that the US government has been